The Wurzels came to the attention of the British public in 1976 when they reached the dizzy heights of number one in the UK singles chart with "The Combine Harvester". It remained in the top slot for two weeks. Other hits followed but The Wurzels history goes back ten years earlier.
Founding member and lead singer was none other than Adge Cutler. He became known as 'The Bard Of Avonmouth' and could turn many a tale into a song that you could sing along to. It was 1966 and Adge Cutler and The Wurzels had arrived. They became part of the folklore in Bristol and Somerset, in fact the West Country. They had a number one local hit in the Bristol and Somerset charts with "Drink Up Thy Zider" and in early 1967 the song reached the national charts at number 45. And trying to describe the music Adge Cutler and The Wurzels performed was not that easy. Adge was once quoted to say: "I suppose you can call the sort of music I write 'good-time' folk. I have hardly ever written a sad song. I write songs so that people can sing them. They have got to be simple for me to sing them."
The band have had several line up changes over the years with Tommy Banner replacing Reg Chant on accordion and keyboards in 1967 and Somerset born Pete Budd replacing Reg Quantrill in 1973 on banjo and guitar. They continued playing many of the classic tunes such as "Twice Daily", "The Champion Dung Spreader", "Drink Up Thy Zider", "Pill Pill (I Loves Thee Still)", "The Shepton Mallet Matador", "Don't Tell I, Tell 'Ee", "Aloha Severn Beach" among others and their popularity grew.
Then, on 5th May 1974 tragedy struck and Adge was killed in a road traffic accident. It was devastating for the band and they had to make a decision on their future. Tommy Banner, Tony Baylis and Pete Budd decided they would continue as a trio under the name of The Wurzels. To them, Adge Cutler was irreplaceable and today Pete and Tommy speak of him with fondness and being a great friend.
It was two years later that The Wurzels hit the big time with "Combine Harvester" becoming their first major hit followed by such classics as "I Am A Cider Drinker", "Morning Glory" and "Farmer Bill's Cowman".
It was two years later that The Wurzels hit the big time with "Combine Harvester" becoming their first major hit followed by such classics as "I Am A Cider Drinker", "Morning Glory" and "Farmer Bill's Cowman".
Today, Tommy and Pete are joined on stage with fellow Wurzels, Amos Morgan on drums and Sedge Moore (really!) on bass.
When I put in a request to interview The Wurzels they agreed without hesitation. For me they were part of my childhood, being a local band as such and hearing stories about them with several of my family members being involved in the local music scene, I was looking forward to meeting them.
I met up with Pete Budd and Tommy Banner at The Churchill Hall, Bristol before they were due to go on stage and perform in front of a large student crowd. When I arrived Tommy was full of smiles and described himself as the only Scottish Wurzel in captivity, whilst Pete seemed relaxed and enjoying a quiet smoke.
When I put in a request to interview The Wurzels they agreed without hesitation. For me they were part of my childhood, being a local band as such and hearing stories about them with several of my family members being involved in the local music scene, I was looking forward to meeting them.
I met up with Pete Budd and Tommy Banner at The Churchill Hall, Bristol before they were due to go on stage and perform in front of a large student crowd. When I arrived Tommy was full of smiles and described himself as the only Scottish Wurzel in captivity, whilst Pete seemed relaxed and enjoying a quiet smoke.
Both Pete and Tommy had worked with Adge Cutler and he a provided the solid foundation that The Wurzels continued to build on. Pete remembers when he first became a Wurzel. "It was in 1973 and that was back in Adge's days and then unfortunately Adge was killed. We went on and in 1976 that's when it all started with the 'Combine Harvester', 'Drink Up Thy Zider' and various other songs that put us on the map." Tommy remembers the days with Adge. "He was great to work with, he was good socially as well. He invited me down for three months back almost forty years ago, back on November 5th 1967 when I came down. And I'm still here so he must have had a big influence on me."
And then Tommy spoke of his first gig with the band. "My very first night, very first gig in fact was the World Cider Drinker Championships and we were the support to Acker Bilk and the Paramount Jazz Band. The compare for the evening was a young Bristolian called Fred Wedlock and we've worked with a heck of a lot of artists since then."
So from Tommy's first gig to The Wurzels first chart number one in 1976, what could they remember about that time? Pete took up the story. "That was the 'Combine Harvester' that was and it was our record producer who came up with the idea of doing this song. It was originally an Irish type song, it was Melanie's 'Brand New Key', she was the one that wrote it but there was this Irish version that wasn't very chart worthy so we changed the words to it to make it more West Country. To be quite honest we didn't think it would be a hit. We were told by everybody else 'oh this is going to be a massive one' and we said 'oh yes, bet you say that to everybody'. Then low and behold it happened and it went to number one for two weeks and then the follow up with, 'I Am A Cider Drinker'. Within a couple weeks we were back in the charts at number three. That was quite an achievement for us, the swede bashers from the West Country you know" and he began laughing as he came to the end of the sentence.
So from Tommy's first gig to The Wurzels first chart number one in 1976, what could they remember about that time? Pete took up the story. "That was the 'Combine Harvester' that was and it was our record producer who came up with the idea of doing this song. It was originally an Irish type song, it was Melanie's 'Brand New Key', she was the one that wrote it but there was this Irish version that wasn't very chart worthy so we changed the words to it to make it more West Country. To be quite honest we didn't think it would be a hit. We were told by everybody else 'oh this is going to be a massive one' and we said 'oh yes, bet you say that to everybody'. Then low and behold it happened and it went to number one for two weeks and then the follow up with, 'I Am A Cider Drinker'. Within a couple weeks we were back in the charts at number three. That was quite an achievement for us, the swede bashers from the West Country you know" and he began laughing as he came to the end of the sentence.
However Tommy chipped in about the first real taste of chart success before either him or Pete were members of the band. "Well Adge had got in the charts with 'Drink Up Thy Zider' which nobody seems to know when he wrote but it got into the charts in the summer of '66. It was number one in the Bristol charts and number two was Tom Jones with 'Green Green Grass Of Home' and that was Adge's big claim to fame back then".
With almost seventy-five years music experience between them, Tommy being a Grandparent and Pete being a Great Grandparent and a useful babysitter, they have had their fair share of memorable moments on the road. For Tommy? "The most memorable? Umm....... I suppose the first time we did Glastonbury, we did Glastonbury in 2000. You could say our big comeback. We'd never been away really but it was a stepping stone to regeneration, of public awareness .... yep". For Pete it was something different. "I think that would be Top Of The Pops, because at the time it was everybody's dream to have a number one record and there we were. We did it some fourteen times in that first year. We did the Christmas versions and all of that and it was ... oh it was great. We had met some great people like Elton John, people like that. It was every musicians dream to get to the top of the tree and there we were, like little apples hanging on there like." Again Pete starts laughing at his description.
I couldn't miss the opportunity to ask them about their worst gig and Pete finds it difficult to answer at first. "Oh I honestly don't know. It's hard to put a marker on the worst one because we go out there to enjoy ourselves." Then Tommy chips in with his thoughts. "I think Bracknell." At this point Pete is trying to recall the gig whilst Tommy continues the story. "Years and years ago we did a gig for McDonalds Staff members." (And that triggers Pete's memory of that night.) "And they were the most ignorant people we had ever met. This wasn't the ordinary staff, this was managerial type and it was at The Hilton Hotel in Bracknell. The guy who had organised it and booked us to do it, he came up to us after we'd done about two songs and said to us 'Lads if you just want to wind up now feel free. I have never come across such ignorant people.' And this was the guy who'd organised it and he was McDonald staff himself! It was lovely for us because they weren't even bothered about us. So we finished off and it was our quickest pay day ever, We only did three songs."
"I think it was the food more than anything ..... I think they were enjoying the food and they weren't interested. People were sat with their backs to you and you'd never do that, that is the height of ignorance to do things like that! It wasn't that they didn't like us, it was just, well they weren't interested. They were more interested in the occasion with the free food and booze and such like, but it was a long time ago and under the bridge." added Pete.
I wanted to find out more about the rumour that The Wurzels have their own language. Phrases such as 'Ow Bist Thee', 'Thee bissn't goin' far', and 'Thee's Got'n Where Thee Cassn't Back'n Hassn't?'. " What The Wurzeleze thing?" says Pete laughing. "Like I give thee a gert big dollop and that sort of stuff? It came just naturally. People started listening to the words of the songs and thought 'what's dollop mean?' And what do these other words mean?"
Tommy looked at both of us, a bit confused with a look that says 'what is he going on about?' "Well he's Scots man" says Pete "And they don't say dollop in Scotland!". "It's not Wurzeleze really, a lot of it is Bristolian. It's like a song Adge wrote years and years ago called "'Thee's Got'n Where Thee Cassn't Back'n Hassn't?' and that is pure Bristolian. He heard someone actually say it in a car park to one of his mates where this guy was trying to get his car out. He could not get it out of the space in the car park and he said 'Thee's Got'n Where Thee Cassn't Back'n Hassn't?' and Adge never forgot it and wrote a song about it." adds Tommy.
So how does Tommy cope with Wurzeleze I ask? "It's pretty easy really, it just lends itself. People ask me how do I get away with a West Country accent. I've never tried to do that and if I did I think that it's taking the mickey as far as I'm concerned. I'm a Scotsman. Being a Wurzel I wouldn't even dream trying to copy a West Country accent because then people could take umbridge because that is me taking the mickey out of them. But the songs, Pete has written a couple West Country songs such as 'I Got My Beedy Little Eye On Thee" and it's quite easy as the words make you say it properly in a West Country way." he says.
"The song is about a wise old owl who's up a tree and watches everything that goes by. It's like the little old lady who sits behind the curtains and knows everything like when someone calls at number four and someone calls at number five and knows everyone's business in the street, only instead of it being a little old lady it was a wise old owl." adds Pete. "The original neighbourhood watch!" Tommy concludes and we all end up laughing.
The Wurzels have been around for over forty years so what is the secret of their longevity, especially as most bands only survive a fraction of that time. "I think it's because we enjoy what we do, irrespective of what other musicians think. What we do is go out there and enjoy ourselves and I think it reflects on the audiences. You see them smiling. People smile and they associate with the songs with what has happened in their lives. A lot of the songs are very true. A lot of the songs are still Adge's and Adge used to write songs about people and what he saw in a pub. He would jot little things down and that would end up coming out as a song you know about the local fibber called 'Hark At 'Ee Jacko'. That was about the compulsive liar, don't tell real lies just little white ones and it was all based on that." says Pete.
Only recently The Wurzels have released their Greatest Hits on CD and from that is the single they recorded with Tony Blackburn. A new version of 'I Am A Cider Drinker'. "It was smashing to work with Tony because we'd worked with him previously in 1976. In fact I think he was the very first one to introduce us on Top of the Pops. We've got quite friendly with him over the years and when we thought about doing this single and using a celebrity he was the first one that came to mind. He did it great. We went and did the video up in Kent and he's a very nice fella." said Pete.
But behind this single release is a story that Tommy begins to tell. "We were looking for a summer release because that was when we had our greatest success before. It was the hottest Summer of '76 and 'I Am A Cider Drinker' has always been the most popular song on shows. It is much more popular than 'Combine Harvester'. So we thought about it and our manager Sil Wilcox said we need a release so what are we going to do? We said right lets do 'Cider Drinker'. We'll get somebody and do it for charity. We'll get a national personality to join us". Tommy takes a breath and continues. "So we thought what charity should we do it for and I was unfortunate in 2005 to have my prostate removed because of prostate cancer. We decided we'd do it for the Bristol Urology Institute which deals in care and research up at Southmead Hospital. It's a new unit there. We mentioned it to EMI, our Record Company and they said the royalties can go to it. Also Sil, our manager ran the London Marathon for the Bristol Urology Institute and all the sponsorship went to it. Oh, also we've got a cider named after us".
So tell me more about this cider, I ask. "Yep, it's true. Thatcher's, one of the famous cider makers in the West Country have come up with 'Wurzle Me Cider' or Where's me cider. Wurzel Me Cider is very nice. It's a bottled cider aimed at the club users and its very good. We hope it will go from strength to strength. For every bottle sold Thatcher's is donating 5p each time to the Bristol Urology Institute for Prostate Cancer Care" said Pete.
Moving away from the subject of cider which The Wurzels will always be associated with, what do Pete and Tommy really think of their ever growing cult status with the public? "Wonderful, wonderful!" says Tommy with a beaming face. "As Pete says it's our good looks that are attracting it really!" And at this point Pete bursts out laughing. I add that I'm chatting to two handsome young gentlemen and Pete continues with the banter "I don't know about gentlemen!" and Tommy adds "It's amazing. We just can't believe it because both of us are grandparents!" But young at heart they remain.
I begin to wonder if The Wurzels have any influences today in with their career and it's at this point they begin to talk about their manager. "The man who influences us without a doubt is our manager Sil Wilcox." said Tommy. "We had no management for years and years until 2001. We met him for the first time on the May bank holiday when we were doing a concert on Wells Cathedral Green. He came to see us and we agreed to work with each other. We'd give each other a three month trial and if we thought we got on with him and he was doing a good job and be ok and vice versa. We've never looked back since." And Pete then adds his praise for the man. "I think one of his strengths is that he doesn't believe in waiting for tomorrow. If he gets an idea, he'll ring up and he'll say I think you ought to go into the studio and make an album, just like that."
And talking of albums, a few years ago The Wurzels released an album of cover songs that included Oasis. Would they consider doing more in the future? "We've covered loads. The album, 'Never Mind The Bullocks' it was called. Gina G. was on there with 'Oooh Argh Just A Little Bit', then there's 'Make Hay Not War' and Robbie Williams' 'Rock DJ." says Pete and he continues. "You have to be careful what you do when you cover songs. You don't want to cover any classic songs that have been hits for years such as the Bob Dylan songs and things like that because I think you'd be crucified if you did something like that sort of thing. But every now and then there are songs that come up and you think to yourself you could do a good job on that as it has a little bit of an agricultural thing about it and it does work...... Well we'll change it to an agricultural song anyway. Don't make any difference!"
"There are some songs that deserve to be covered really in a light hearted way. Its like 'Don't Look Back In Anger'. If you know the original it's a bit dirgy being honest. Our version made it completely different and the good thing about that was MTV were doing an 'Oasis Day' back about four years ago or something like that just when ours was released. They were playing so many tracks every hour on Oasis, but for their advertising of it they had a video done of us doing 'Don't Look Back In Anger' and they used that for their advertising." adds Tommy
This provided the opportunity to find out if there was any truth in the story that The Wurzels had upset Oasis with their own version of 'Don't Look Back In Anger'? "No, there was never any truth that we'd upset them at all! In fact they didn't even know about it at the time because no one had got in touch with them about it and EMI had not spoken to them." Pete says assuringly.
"Sil manages The Stranglers and they'd always had free Doc Martens Boots. Pete and I had done the promotion for the song all over the Country and EMI's solicitors had done nothing about it. Anyway Sil thought dozy buggers, phones up the girl who used to work for Doc Martens and said 'are you still friends with Meg Matthews?' Meg who was married to Noel Gallagher. 'Yes big friends' she said. 'Is Meg still friends with Noel Gallagher? She says 'yes best of pals'. Do me a favour tell them the story. That was 10 O'clock in the morning. By mid-day Sil had an e-mail from the Gallagher's Management saying permission granted copy sent to Sony records. And that was it. It was done in two hours". Adds Tommy. "In fact they said it's good, it's great we like it".
And with that rumour cleared up Pete and Tommy got ready to entertain the troops in the student hall, just one of many gigs they'll be doing over the summer.
Many thanks to Pete and Tommy for agreeing to do the interview and their management team for making the arrangements.
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Bristol Urology Institute: http://www.bui.ac.uk/ AND http://www.wurzelscharity.com/ where you can download the single
Wurzel Me Cider: http://www.thatcherscider.co.uk/wurzels/
Kathryn Courtney-O'Neill
Copyright: Kacey-O'Neill (c) 2007. All written work and photos not to be used without my permission.
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